Tuesday, July 08, 2008

30 Questions My Girlfriend Asked Me About Star Wars

To celebrate Independence Day weekend, my girlfriend and I watched all three original Star Wars movies back to back. We'd caught bits and pieces of the Prequels on TV earlier in the week, and I was surprised and thrilled to find her taking an interest in one of my strongest areas of geek trivia.

What follows is a list of the top 30 questions she asked me during our Star Wars marathon, and my unresearched answers (corrections and nitpicks are welcome).A NEW HOPE

1. Are those real people in the Stormtrooper outfits?Most of them - there are leftover clones as well.

2. Imperial senate?Dummy senate. They disband it in this movie.

3. Why does the first droid blow up? Deus ex machina?Expanded Universe would have us believe R5 blew himself up to help Artoo.follow-up: So we should assume R5 believes in the rebellion?I would say a) he probably just wants to help a fellow droid and.... b) maybe he does just want to help the rebellion, which stands for freedom and self-determination, and droids seem like they could hold those values too. I mean Artoo certainly does.

Unwise decisions, questions of motivations, and questionable force powers, after the jump...4. If Threepio were given a message, would he want to deliver it too?He would want to deliver it if he was told to, but it's not as if Artoo was PROGRAMMED to deliver it. He's doing it because he wants to help the princess. Threepio might kind of forget about the whole thing if he got a new master.

5. Why is Obi Wan her only hope?Cause he's the only Jedi she knows about.follow-up: How does she know who he is?Her step-dad, Bail Organa, knew him and told her about him.

6. Why did Obi Wan put Luke on Tatooine, if that's where Darth Vader is from?Anakin doesn't know he has children; he thought he killed Padme before she gave birth. So there is no reason he would ever go back to Tatooine, in fact he might stay away from Tatooine since it reminds him too much of his old life. Also Shmi Skywalker was part of the Lars family for some years, so Beru and Owen Lars would feel a responsibility to take care of her grandchild.

7. Why doesn't the bar ("cantina" - Ed.) allow droids? is it some kind of racism allegory?Maybe because they don't drink?

8. Why is Obi Wan going alone to disable the tractor beam?He knows that Vader will sense him and come looking for him.follow-up: Why is Darth Vader just wandering around the hallway?Maybe he's on the way to another meeting?

9. Why does Leia appear to know who Luke is talking about when he says "I'm here with Ben Kenobi?" (she only knows the name Obi Wan, I thought)Um. She just hears Kenobi and parrots it back. It's a high stress situation.

10. Why did it take Obi Wan so long to get to the tractor beam?He's been sneaking around corners to get there, and it's a gigantic space station - he could have traveled like a mile.

11. Why did Obi Wan let Darth Vader kill him?He knows that luke will save the princess, and he can't beat Darth Vader. Also he can come back using the tricks he learned from Qui-Gon.

12. Why does the rebel general say "may the force be with you"? Can regular people use the force?Everyone is bound together by the force, Jedis just can use it in a literal way. Plus Jedi's have probably been kind of canonized as saints by the rebels, since they're all dead.

13. How do we know that Darth Vader is like, the best pilot?He was a good pilot in Episode Three, and when he was 9 he piloted pods, which humans are not supposed to be able to do.

EMPIRE STRIKES BACK14. Why don't the droids freeze in the snow?They're made of space metal - Artoo can survive in the void of space. Also Threepio did say his joints were freezing.

BONUS COMMENT: "I bet Artoo knows everything that happened in the prequels, and is really uncomfortable right now."

15. What kind of clambake is Vader in?It's a private re-generation chamber.

16. Don't the rebels worry about what happened to Luke when he goes to Dagobah?He can do whatever he wants.

17. Doesn't Yoda know Artoo?He's seen lots of droids before.

18. Can Luke understand Artoo?When he's hooked up to a computer he can, otherwise he has to guess. Artoo may be saying "That's Yoda! He was on the Jedi Council" but Luke wouldn't know.

19. Why is Yoda acting like a drunk?He's testing luke's patience and empathy.20. How did Boba Fett see the Falcon float away with the trash? Why didn't he tell the Empire?His ship, the Slave I, has great sensors - he didn't tell the Empire cause he wants the bounty.

21. Why does Vader torture Han and not ask him any questions?So that Luke can have a vision of his friends in pain. Anakin only had future visions of his loved ones in pain, so he assumes that's how it works for Luke too (and it does).

22. How does Darth Vader keep up his lightsaber skills?He's already got them - he was super powerful in his prime. He might train with the Emperor too, who beat Yoda in lightsaber combat.

23. Why does Luke try to contact Leia but not Han Solo?Short answer because she's force sensitive, long answer, he's "stretching out with his feelings" to find someone he knows to get him help, and since Han is in carbonite and dead to the world, he can't sense him. and since Leia is force sensitive anyway, he can sense her very strongly and can easily communicate with her.

RETURN OF THE JEDI

24. Does Vader even care about ruling the galaxy?Anakin always thought that he deserved a lot of power, because he was told for most of his life that he was "the chosen one." He talked with Padme about ruling everything so he could have things just like he wanted them.

25. What's Jabba's job?He's like a mob boss - he controls the crime syndicates on Tatooine. Hutts are like gangsters of the galaxies.26. How did Leia know how to get Han out of the carbonite?She knows what she's doing. She could have asked Lando how to work it. There's just a little switch on the side.

27. Has Leia ever seen an ewok before? She seems not surprised to see Wicket.These guys aren't scared by any aliens - they were just on a sail barge with tons of horrible creatures and a giant slug monster. Plus they work with aliens. They can take a little teddy bear guy in stride.

28. Is Artoo annoyed at the ewoks?He's pretty easy going. He's just going with it.

29. Why can Leia remember Padme?She has force memory past powers. She can remember images, even though she was but a wee baby.

30. Why does Anakin know how to come back from the dead?That's hard; the Emperor told him that his Sith master could bring other people back from the dead, but not himself. So even if the Emperor taught Anakin how to do that, which I doubt he did, Anakin couldn't bring himself back. I think that Obi Wan and or Yoda pulled Anakin's spirit out of the force continuum, which they could do since he joined the light side at the last minute.

But if we're forced to take Episode III as cannon, all Leia would be able to remember of Padme was that she cried when she named her. I think that the only woman Leia would identify as her mother would be Mrs. Organa. Any memory of Padme would, I think, be confusing to her as she would then have two mothers. Since she seems like the type of gal who'd look into something screwed up like that, I think this is just shoddy storytelling on Lucas' part.

Bender - HA! I never thought of that. "Damn droids, always invading planets and shooting people." Are there other example of droid-hating in the Star Wars universe, or is it just Wuher that's holding a grudge?

LTG - Leia does say she remembers her mother as "beautiful, but sad", which certainly works with her limited experience with dying Padme. Also, Luke's adoptive family were honest with him about not being his real parents, and I would assume that Leia also knows she was adopted, just not who her birth parents are. Given that she was adopted into royalty and a loving family, I could see her accepting whatever dead-end story Bail told her about how they came to adopt her.

there was a book tails from the cantina or something like that that says the bar owner had some problems with droids in the past. i dont remember why, but anyway, he ends up befriending a droid in the story and makes mixed drinks out of greedo or something.

Personally, i think the answer to #29 is bad storytelling... that always bugged me. I always just assumed she was talking about her adopted mother (i know not the intention-but its how my brain retconned the sucker into making sense)... Also, i like bender's answer to robo-racism. I'd hate the assholes too come to think of it. Sounds like a fun viewing though... wish i coulda been there.

Yes, some of these answers are very iffy. For example, 20. How did Boba Fett see the Falcon float away with the trash? Why didn't he tell the Empire?

He didn't "see" the Falcon float away in the trash - he guessed that Han Solo would use the trash to hide and escape, and BOBA FETT AND HIS SHIP, SLAVE I WERE HIDING THERE ALSO. Part of being a hunter is knowing how your prey thinks.

As to telling the Empire - duh, that's not his job. He's a ... BOUNTY HUNTER! He is hunting Solo down, to return him for the bounty.

Your girlfriend missed a question: Why doesn't R2 just talk in English instead of incomprehensible beeps?

It's not even as if in 5 seconds of beeping he communicates 5 Terabits of data. This was one question I always had to put to the back of my mind in order to fully enjoy any scenes with R2 (and he was in many ways my favourite character! hell I was only 12)

Because in the original trilogy, they weren't coming back from the dead, and there was none of this qui-gon nonsense about learning a new technique that someone would have to know. Every Jedi we saw die in the movie just sort of floated around after death, so when Vader died he was a ghost just like everybody else. The only force sensitive person we don't see come back is the emperor, and I don't think he'd be chillin' out with the good guys. (Yeah, I know, in the canon there's all that weird stuff with the clones of the emperor... whatever).

I mean, some of the trilogy's issues are just sort of suspended disbelief things, but a lot of these answers are pretty hilarious. I also like how many nerds came in and pushed up their coke-bottles to give the REAL reason for things since some of your random humorous answers weren't accurate enough, since they talked to Lucas about all this. Star Wars brings out the angry fightin' nerd in us all!

To all the "bad writing" comments, let me just say; I realize these movies, particularly the prequels, have many shining examples of how NOT to write a coherent and entertaining screenplay.

BUT, one of my favorite aspect of Star Wars is how expansive the universe is, and how even when faced with a glaring plot hole, if you've got a little EU history under your belt you can "force" it (sorry) to make sense. The link Max Power posted is a great example of this sort of creative accounting.

All that said, I don't get you guys who don't think the Padme/Leia Memory thing reconciles. Luke says "What do you remember of your mother? Your REAL mother?" As in, not that lady who raised you. And why would he be asking this in the first place if he didn't expect to get an answer about the woman that was his mom too? I think this is one of the few things that links up really well between the movies.

Also, the short story collection Tales from Mos Eisley Cantina has been cited a few times as an explanation of why Wuher hates droids; I read this too, but like the commenters I can't remember the explanation it gave. His Wookiepedia entry says Wuher looked down on droids simply because they were the only things around that he COULD safely look down on (I think this is what the story said), so maybe it IS a racism allegory after all.

I've always thought she was talking about her adopted mother, as that is the only one she has ever known. Leia's family adopted her as a daughter, whereas Luke only had an uncle and aunt. I don't know why people assume she is talking about Padme, as she would have no memories of her.

"30. Why does Anakin know how to come back from the dead?"

Back before the prequels ruined the storyline, all "jedi" were able to appear after death, through the Force. After the prequels, they needed to be trained to do such, so there is no explanation for Anakin to appear, other than he was powerful with the Force.

20. How did Boba Fett see the Falcon float away with the trash? Why didn't he tell the Empire?

Sorry W. Shedd but be careful with your defense...Fett did report his findings to Vader - He was part of the bounty hunters Vader call on to find the Falcon. He made a deal with Vader to turn Solo over to him once Luke took the bait...I do agree with you that Fett had mad skills and hunted the Falcon.

I guess we can assume that the stormtroopers in IV, V & VI may be human considering that they are different in height and weight, etc. This could also be explained because there wasn't enough 6 foot 180 pound guys available for casting...However, my understanding was that they are still all clones but with time and experience they aquired names, ranks and personalities.Leia even commented that Luke was "a little short for a stormtrooper"...Lucas also made the clones clumsy like their maker Jango - this was especially apparent in IV...lol

This one concerns me too. Yoda doesn't have too much experience with R2 in the past but Obi-Wan definately does. He "doesn't remember having owned any droids" - I can't really think of a good reason why he doesn't remember R2 and 3PO - I guess there only so many things Lucas can tie together when it comes to dialog between the trilogies...

11. Why did Obi Wan let Darth Vader kill him?He knows that luke will save the princess, and he can't beat Darth Vader. Also he can come back using the tricks he learned from Qui-Gon.

My take is a little different. He knows that he can't be Vader, *and* that if he draws out the fight by trying too hard, Luke will stay behind at minimum, or even get himself killed trying to intervene. So Obi-Wan sacrifices himself in Luke's sight to make Luke leave promptly, saving himself, Leia, and Han. Also -- and this is Obi-Wan at his devious best -- he makes sure that Luke will obsess over Vader in the future, since Luke now thinks of Vader as not just a nasty kidnapper-guy but also the slayer of Obi-Wan.

For the posts about #29, no one seems to remember that Padme was an important political figure. I am sure that Leia knew about her from what her adoptive parents told her. That, and there had to have been at least images, if not holo-recordings of her in the Senate or as a queen on Naboo. Certainly Bail would have had the means to hook Leia up with these memories.

I think it's clear that he DOESN'T keep up his lightsaber skills. Compare the Anakin/Obi Wan showdown in Ep 3 to the Vader/Obi Wan showdown in ep 4. Clearly both fighters are years and years out of practice.

As has been pointed out, R5 blowing himself up happens in the Tales comics which are explicitly not canon. As I recall, in that tale R5 is in fact known as 'Skippy the Jedi Droid'. For all it's silliness, it was a great story.

In the radio drama for A New Hope, which I *think* is considered canon, R2 actually does something to R5 with the intent of making R5 short out, to improve his own chances at being selected.

"follow-up: Why is Darth Vader just wandering around the hallway?Maybe he's on the way to another meeting?"

I think this is because he's actually looking for Obi-Wan -- if you remember, in the Death Star's hangar bay, he mentions that he senses a presence he hasn't felt in a while -- we can assume he recognizes Obi-Wan's presence, and is scouring the station for him.

#22... Albo i'm glad you said it and not me! Both Vader and Old Ben aren't quite on their game during that last fight... also... i don't know why its so hard to believe that R5 just blew it... i mean those jawas are selling droids they find in the dessert... are we expecting this to be some class act operation with fully functioning droids? Why do we need an excuse to explain how a crap dessert droid bit the dust. Although it is cute to think of him as a little jedi droid...

With the whole Anakin coming back in spirit form thing, my theory has always been that Anakin (being the Chosen One) is the strongest force user ever born (at the time). I mean c'mon, the force CREATED him, how could he NOT have the power to bring himself back in the spirit form, as long as he was in touch with the light side. OR, the force itself willed it to be.

When it comes to the droids not allowed in the cantina thing, it's not the first time this has shown up (in EU that is). In the Lando Calrissian Adventures, there are several references about droids not being allowed in certain areas, etc. No explanation is concretely given, but it is assumed that they are viewed more as tools/equipment rather than personalities, etc.

However, this brings up the debate as to the versions of the films. Even theatrical versions. In '77, the first film wasn't called A New Hope. There were even THREE theatrical cuts of EpII when it was released on 35, IMAX, and digital.

The Emperor beating Yoda in a lightsaber duel is wrong. The Emperor did not beat him with a lightsaber, he beat him by repeatedly force throwing Senate pods at him. Even Dooku had to resort to using the Force to throw things at Yoda (or in that case, Obi Wan and Anakin) to "beat" Yoda. It's a pretty well known EU fact that Yoda is one of the best lightsaber duelist in Jedi history as was Mace. The Emperor had to resort to tossing Mace out the window after a little Force Lightning and Mace was second saber to Yoda (which I still don't think Mace is dead...you telling me a Jedi Master couldn't have slowed himself, managed to land 'safely' in a car or something? Anakin did it in Episode 2).

As for Obi Wan saying he didn't own any droids...he didn't really. By not acknowledging them (or should say R2 since C3PO had his memory erased atleast once) he was merely keeping the secret of who Vader/Anakin really were and such.

I dunno, whynot, I get the impression that all's fair in a lightsaber duel. I mean, how many fights do we see in the entire trilogy that DON'T have some force power stuff going on? One? Two? I think that's part of the duel.

And I agree about Obi Wan's statement being the truth... From a certain point of view.

Using the term "balance" is crazy - one definition is "equality between the totals of the two sides of an account" - the entire Star Wars Saga is a balancing act in fact when Vader turned good and the Emperor was destroyed balance was non-existent. Evil had to rise again for there to be balance. I think the term Lucas should have used was "harmony" - maybe thats cheesy but if you don't have harmony you have interference, i.e. light vs. dark...

Using the term "balance" is crazy - one definition is "equality between the totals of the two sides of an account" - the entire Star Wars Saga is a balancing act in fact when Vader turned good and the Emperor was destroyed balance was non-existent. Evil had to rise again for there to be balance. I think the term Lucas should have used was "harmony" - maybe thats cheesy but if you don't have harmony you have interference, i.e. light vs. dark...

As far as the droids not being allowed, I believe that I read that it was because they can be programmed to spy and there is a lot of sketchy business going on in that joint. Wuher doesn't want droids in there because his patrons want a safe haven to discuss their lawless activities. KBD3

THX5150 said "Leia even commented that Luke was 'a little short for a stormtrooper'"

So I've wondered something about this since finding out that stormtroopers were clones. I mean, I can suspend disbelief about the stormtroopers of various sizes in IV, V, and VI and blame it on a casting/technical error, but: why didn't all the other clones notice Luke's diminutive size? Wouldn't a short guy stand out in an army of clones like a sore thumb? Leia can even tell when there aren't even any stormtroopers around to compare him to!

As far as stormtroopers are concerned, I figured that perhaps the facilities on kamino were rendered incapable of producing more troopers, or at least a sufficient amount of troopers. In that case, the empire would allow people to enlist.

I'm pretty sure that the Empire was allowing enlistments after so long. The clones were dying due to accelerated aging, and by this point it was just as easy to recruit or draft new troopers. Many EU sources refer to this subject. Even Han Solo was enrolled in an Imperial Academy, I think.

I think Anakin could appear in spirit form because of his extreme strength in the force and having been possibly created by the force. It's likely that he would be able to do things natively that others require training for.

When Luke asks about Leia's "real mother" and Leia doesn't question it I think that ends that debate. She's referring to Padme.

I can only think of one scene with both Yoda and R2 in the prequels, the end of Menace at the parade. But it does seem likely that R2 would at least be aware of Yoda and his position. You'd think that when Luke is talking about Yoda on the way to Dagobah that R2 might say something. Unfortunately for Luke once he finally meets Yoda R2 is no longer in the X-Wing and can't tell him who he is.

I was under the impression that stormtroopers in IV, V and VI were recruited and not clones at all. I thought that with the growth of the empire that they would recruit/draft people from al the planets.

Also, I think the "balance" question is difficult to answer. In the Sith movie Yoda mentions that the prophesy could have been misinterpreted. In the novel of Sith I think Obiwan or maybe Mace expresses some uncertainty over what balance even refers to.

My opinion is that the Jedi consider the Sith to BE the imbalance or to cause it.

I always thought of it as a fake memory, kind of like times when you want to remember something a certain way so your mind creates it. Eventually, if you continue along that path, it becomes almost a real memory. It's a process called "Confabulation."

I think that Leia learned eventually that she was adopted, or perhaps instinctively knew, and that she created these memories to fill a gap. By the time Luke asks, she has this fuzzy memory created.

CLONES! In an interview (I'm pretty sure it was one of the interviews that is bonus content on one of the DVDs) Lucas says that by the time the original trilogy comes around, there are several sources for the clones, not just Jango Fett, and some of those sources may have been less preferred, but had to be used to satisfy some politicking (though Palpatine is portrayed as ultimate ruler in Episode III, and he had massive influence in the Senate, not everyone yet was a puppet [think Bail Organa and Mon Mothma and their special council with Padme and others that was cut from the film but appears in the deleted scenes], and the Senate still existed in some form throughout the years between III and IV, as it wasn't powerless enough to outright disband until IV).

To answer why Anakin can come back as a ghost is easy. The secret is that you have to die in front of Luke. This also explains why Obi-wan let Vader kill him. They were fighting, he looks over, sees Luke, and all the sudden gives up. He dies in front of Luke and is the first ghost we see. Now he knows it works, so he tells Yoda. Yoda is old, and about to die, so Obi-wan sends Luke there, so Yoda can die in front of Luke too. That is why Yoda doesn't want Luke to leave, and he has him doing all these stupid levitation tricks. He is just wasting time until he dies. Vader by pure coincidence happens to die in front of Luke, and gets the special power to return as a ghost as well.

I didn't come up with this theory, I found it here:http://www.brunching.com/lukeside.html

Firstly be glad you have a girlfriend if you're this obsessed with Star Wars, secondly be glad she'll put up with watching all of them with you. And thirdly to the retards who are saying the answers he gives are "iffy" THATS THE WHOLE POINT, ITS WHAT MAKES THE POST FUNNY! bloody nerds.

Liam said... As far as stormtroopers are concerned, I figured that perhaps the facilities on kamino were rendered incapable of producing more troopers, or at least a sufficient amount of troopers. In that case, the empire would allow people to enlist.

and Anonymous said... I'm pretty sure that the Empire was allowing enlistments after so long. The clones were dying due to accelerated aging, and by this point it was just as easy to recruit or draft new troopers. Many EU sources refer to this subject. Even Han Solo was enrolled in an Imperial Academy, I think.

and also chaz said...I was under the impression that stormtroopers in IV, V and VI were recruited and not clones at all. I thought that with the growth of the empire that they would recruit/draft people from all the planets.

in reponse to these: 1st: yes the cloning facilities were in fact destroyed (or at least most of em) during the CIS attack on Kamino and also Jango Fett's gene samples were lost (and-or destroyed) in the attack. so no, they (the cloners) were unable to create more clones (of fett) (also as a side note i think the reason for the bad shooting in ANH is because the stormtroopers were not clones of Fett, and in fact enlistees) (and also the empire moved the cloning facilities to one of the moons of coruscant and used new hosts to create clones, who were, by far, worst shots then fett :)

His lightsaber skills were not inferior to Vader's, I'd even say he could have beaten Vader easily since he has been his teacher and knew his weaknesses.

...And while Obi Wan might have wanted to speed things up and got himself killed before reinforcements could arrive, it would have been much easier if the dark lord has been killed in the first (err.. fourth) episode.

omg u are all so dumb...R5 blow up coz its the will of the force...the force cant affect druids i hear u speak....ud be right...but the droid was MEANT to blow up so R2 would go with luke and hence send Luke on his way to become a jedi....think wht would of happend had this not happend...as for vader;s poor saber skills compared to Anakins wicked skills this is just coz 4 5 6 was made first and that was the limit of the tech Lucas had ava....nothing to do with any thing else....trust me im a very big SW geek

oh and why did Obi let vader kill him...is so he can become 1 with the force and then help luke becomke a jedi....Vader is very very strong in the force and obi knows this...and as much as obi beat ANAKIN, Anakin was still new to the dark side game and as vader some 18-20 yrs later he is very very strong in the dark side so obi cant win the duel...either a force duel or a lightsaber duel so he destroys the tractor beam then sets about delaying vader for luke to escape thus sending luke on his way to become a Jedi....tbh every thing that leads up to luke blowing the first death star up is set up by the force so he can become a Jedi

Han Solo did join the imps navy but left when he saved loads of wookies and thats how chewie become life debted to him.....there are no clones in 4 5 6 thy are ppl im unsure why there is no more clones tho...last 3 comments have been ME (Jamie Adams) self confessed Geek

OMG Boba Fett is a BOunty Hunter and wht Han does is a Smuggling trick to escapes the Imps...u cant really beleive that Han is the only 1 to know this....and Boba Fetts been tryin to kill Han since day 1....we can assume that they think alike.. so wen boba hears the Falcon just disapeared he puts 2 and 2 together and get 4s Clever Fett

Ok, to be honest, most of these answers are bogus. I am a TRUE Star Wars geek and I will school you all...

1.The stormtroopers are not from just one template like the clonetroopers of Ep.II and III, they are from multiple templates. (See Star Wars Battlefront II story mode)

2.Palpatine kept the senate for a time until his Death Star was finished. In the beginning he needed the senate to keep the galaxy from anarchy, seeing as how he just abolished an entire political infrastucture and replaced it with a new one. Once the Death Star was completed, he needed not worry about social upheaval, he would destroy any and everything that caused an upset in his Empire.

3. Like Luke said...bad motivator

4. The blogger's answer is sufficient.

5.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

6.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

7. Yes, during the 70's and while Lucas was writing the film, he added many political overtones in the film...this part in the cantina WAS intended to have a racist allegory in it to reflect the similar situations in the real world. (See...any of the major interviews with Lucas)

8.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

9.The blogger's answer is sufficient. Great Answer.

10.The blogger's answer is sufficient. Once again, great answer.

11.It's not that he CAN'T beat him but Kenobi understands the only real way for them to escape is for him to sacrifice himself. Kenobi, of all people, knows the importance and value of self-sacrifice. Plus he knows he'll be able to better assist Luke in the after-life.

12.The blogger's answer is sufficient. Most everyone is aware of the Force...it's used as a way we say 'Godspeed' or 'God bless you'

13.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

14.I'm sure they would freeze if they stood stationary long enough.

15. The chamber is a meditation chamber. It's hyperbaric so Vader can remove his helmet. It's also used as a recuperative area for him to fix himself and his armor if it becomes damaged.

16.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

17.The blogger's answer is sufficient. Great answer.

18.The blogger's answer is sufficient.Great answer.

19.The blogger's answer is sufficient.Great answer.

20.You have to think like a crook to catch a crook as my detective father would say, he didn't say anything because he knows Han knows how to evade, the Army teaches us that 'stealth is key, and the element of suprise is your best friend'.

21.The blogger's answer is sufficient.Awesome answer.

22.The blogger's answer is sufficient. If you read Dark Lord: Rise Of Darth Vader, it explains he actually has to modify his fighting stance and technique to accomodate the bulky armor, as it gets in the way...he's more of a power swinger now as opposed to the agile, acrobatic swordsman of his younger, Jedi years.

23.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

24. All kids who I've ever met who were raised under impoverished or restrictive conditions seem to have a bit of a Napoleon Complex and feel they should be on top, sort of like it's owed to them for all the bs they put up with earlier in life.

25.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

26. You don't undergo a covert operation without knowing the details of the mission first. They would not send her in there with no technical knowledge.

27.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

28.The blogger's answer is sufficient.

29.Never heard of force memory past powers in all the material I've read but I guess that works.

30.Once again, there's no definitive answer, even from Lucas, so I guess we'll go with what the blogger says for now.

Those corrections are TRUE answers. I am a skilled an knowledgeable philosophy and psychology double major and the BIGGEST Star wars geek you will ever meet. I assure that the answers I have provided are 100% correct. I bet my career as a U.S. Soldier on it.

to the question : why doesnt Leia remember padme? Again this has been put away in the back of my mind. Its not like Padme was some random girl or a bum on the streets of Nar Shadda, She was a queen of naboo and a senator. you would think there would be holovids and documentaries of her and her life.

Q.22 - The Emperor did NOT beat Yoda in their light-saber duel. In fact, just the other way around - After having flung his best ( or worst, depending on how you would like to look at it ) at Yoda, he was repulsed with a force even harder than he dealt out, by Yoda - after his initial assault with force lightening, which took Yoda by surprise, he was hit by Yoda's force powers sufficiently hard to cannon him across the room, and wipe the smug grin clean off his face. At that point, realizing that Yoda was not the average Jedi he could bamboozle, and he was probably in over his head with Yoda, he attempts to run from the scene - please bear in mind, if he was really superior to Yoda, he wouldn't have attempted to run the way he did - and Yoda blocks of his escape, asking him, that if he was so powerful, why was he trying to leave ... When the lightsaber duel ensued, after a fast and hard exchange, he realizes that it's a matter of time, before Yoda overwhelms him with his light-saber skills which are ultimately superior to his own. He resorts to throwing the seating pods at Yoda using his force powers - One more attempt at trying to overwhelm Yoda with his force lightening fails, when Yoda absorbs all the evil lightening and force that the Emperor dishes out, and having absorbed it, repulses it back to him, thereby knocking the Emperor off his foothold on the pod, and sending him into free-fall.

Only by sheer bad luck, when Yoda's light-saber gets knocked out of his hand during one of these exchanges, does Yoda, decide to abandon the fight and escape, because obviously the Emperor is not interested in a mano-y-mano fair fight, in which he knows he will be defeated by Yoda, but is intent on fighting dirty, and is only waiting for the entrance of the Imperial Guards and the Storm Troopers, at the scene of the battle, at which point, Yoda would be overwhelmed, by the sheer force of numbers against him - it would be difficult, even for the great Yoda, to successfully battle the Guards, the Storm Troopers AND the Emperor single-handedly and win.

In short, the Emperor was outclassed by Yoda in their encounter, both in the departments of light-saber dueling, as well as force powers - only by resorting to cowardly tactics did the Emperor manage to escape defeat.

For that matter, if it comes down to dueling, the Emperor was bested even by Mace Windu ... Windu had him comprehensively beaten, and would have completely destroyed him, were it not for the last minute intervention of Anakin.

I would like to quote from the script of The Empire Strikes Back, with regard to this :

Excellent post!! I've had to do this too. These are disagreements based on what I think I know about Star Wars:3) The first droid blows up because it is the "will of the Force." The Force has a will and makes seemingly random things happen to bring balance to the Force. The way to make that happen was to defeat the Dark Side and the only people who could do that were the Skywalkers.5) Bail Organa knew where Obi-Wan was. Other Jedi had been associated with the Rebellion, but all of them had been hunted down and killed. Only Obi-Wan and Yoda were left.6) This is dicey. I assume that Yoda and Obi-Wan meant to set a trap for Vader. Maybe they harbored some hope that if he found out another Skywalker existed, he could be lured back to the light. More likely, it was to give Luke an appreciation for his father's life.11) Kenobi let Vader kill him because it wasn't Vader's death that mattered but the way in which Vader and the Emperor died. Balance was needed in the Force and merely killing the Emperor and Vader would not restore it.16) The Rebels knew Luke was Force-sensitive. The Rebellion was founded by exiled Jedi and disenchanted Senators like PAdme Amidala. Therefore, they would understand if Luke was called by the Force to do something other than what the Rebels were currently doing.21) Vader knows alot about the Force. He is making a vision of the future a reality. If he doesn't actually harm Han, then Luke can't have the vision of Han being harmed. Wonderfully circular logic!22) Vader has special-made droids that train him in lightsaber combat. 29) This is never explained very well. I think that Mrs Organa dies when Leia is very young. I think the burden of the secret she carried was too much. She knew that Vader might come and kill her and Bail and take Leia at any time. That would make ME sad.30) Technically, he doesn't come back from the dead. He's still dead. He merely maintains his Force-essence. Perhaps, Kenobi spoke to him before he died. Maybe the ability to live beyond death is the easiest thing in the world?

Boba fett had his ship dumped with the rest of the trash else Han would have seen boba fly into the trash... and like he said he did alert the empire b/c Vader had troops ready at cloud city when Han got there bc they shot C-3PO.

3. According to the STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL RADIO DRAMA, Artoo-Detoo sabotaged Arfive...

4. Again according to STAR WARS: THE ORIGINAL RADIO DRAMA, Artoo WAS in fact programmedto deliver the message to Obi-Wan Kenobi, as well as to protect her identity at all cost.See-Threepio was NOT informed of the mission...

7. According to STAR WARS: TALES FROM THE MOS EISLEY CANTINA, droids aren't permitted in thecantina basicly because Wuher understands that many of his customers partake in shaddy businessand droids can easily record (audio and/or video) anything that goes on around them.

8. He sensed Obi-Wan's presence in the Docking Bay when the Millennium Falcon was brought onboard the Death Star and made a report with Grand Moff Tarkin. After that, he went for a walk,perhaps to gather his thoughts or to simply meditate on the presence he felt...

9. How many guys named Kenobi do you suppose might come looking for a rebel princess from anow destroyed world who's been captured by the Empire and imprisoned aboard a massive spacestation? I'm thinking not many...

10. It's a giant space station the size of a small moon, not a one room apartment...

12. The word "force" should be capital when used in the context of "May the Force be with you"or "Use the Force, Luke"... It's like the Upper-case H when He refers to Jesus in The Bible...

To the guy who said Mace beat Palpatine, he only beat him coz Palpatine let him. Sidious sensed Anakin coming and let Mace get the upper hand to get sympathy from Anakin. Then he pretends to be all weak and dying, only to burst to life to zap Mace and finish him off when the time came.

Palpatine was powerful, he just prefered to fight dirty. And hey, wouldn't you if it meant to would win??

Lots of bad writing in this article. I take it the geekanerds are neither geeky nor nerdy about good writing. "Cause"? The word is because. There is never a need to write "umm", unless you're writing a screenplay. The questions are good, the answers are weak and not well thought out. I was going to suggest the guy should dump her after question #15 when she called it a "clambake", but perhaps she should dump him for having so little understanding of the saga, after being such an alleged fan. And question #3, she answers it herself: deus ex machina. Sometimes the plot delivers the necessary results. Saying the droid blew himself up completely destroys this premise and shows no understanding of literature. Stupid author, but the girlfriend might be okay. Unless she's a fattie.

Qui Gon did not disappear because he did not have enough time to prepare his corporeal body to lose its' force essence before Dath Maul stuck him. Obi-Wan was a much wiser jedi than Qui-Gon was(he told obi as much in ep I)and he knew that his own self sacrifice would benefit Luke and the rebels infinitely more than if he had struck down Vader; so he readied his body and essence for the final confrontation with vader. Vader didn't disappear because he was not ready either. When he woke up that morning, he was not expecting to end the day dropping his master into the death star's abyss. Eventually, yes he does become a force entity, but only after looking at his son a final time with a father's love. When Obi-Wan arrived on the death star, he knew what he had to do on that day. As did Yoda, when Luke showed up dressed in black. A peaceful transition is all that is needed for a lightside force user, Yoda had this, Obi-Wan may have been in the midst of a duel, but he was fully prepared to move on and become One with The Force.

Qui Gon did not disappear because he did not have enough time to prepare his corporeal body to lose its' force essence before Dath Maul stuck him. Obi-Wan was a much wiser jedi than Qui-Gon was(he told obi as much in ep I)and he knew that his own self sacrifice would benefit Luke and the rebels infinitely more than if he had struck down Vader; so he readied his body and essence for the final confrontation with vader. Vader didn't disappear because he was not ready either. When he woke up that morning, he was not expecting to end the day dropping his master into the death star's abyss. Eventually, yes he does become a force entity, but only after looking at his son a final time with a father's love. When Obi-Wan arrived on the death star, he knew what he had to do on that day. As did Yoda, when Luke showed up dressed in black. A peaceful transition is all that is needed for a lightside force user, Yoda had this, Obi-Wan may have been in the midst of a duel, but he was fully prepared to move on and become One with The Force.

Lots of bad writing in this article. I take it the geekanerds are neither geeky nor nerdy about good writing. "Cause"? The word is because. There is never a need to write "umm", unless you're writing a screenplay. The questions are good, the answers are weak and not well thought out. I was going to suggest the guy should dump her after question #15 when she called it a "clambake", but perhaps she should dump him for having so little understanding of the saga, after being such an alleged fan. And question #3, she answers it herself: deus ex machina. Sometimes the plot delivers the necessary results. Saying the droid blew himself up completely destroys this premise and shows no understanding of literature. Stupid author, but the girlfriend might be okay. Unless she's a fattie.

Most of the poor writing is centered in this comment. The word is "fatty" not fattie.

Anyway, I liked this entry and despite being pretty well versed in SW (though my life's a bit too full for the kind of nuanced understanding demonstrated here.) I learned a couple of things from this entry.

Thanks for sticking up for me Angelina, even as you imply my life is horribly, horribly empty (it is!). JK LOL.

Also thanks to all the Anons who posted interesting stuff about the force disappearance question. Some very eye opening stuff there. Never thought about what Yoda must have thought when Luke showed up dressed in Dark Side black. Good stuff.

the whole ghost thing is actually a "hidden talent" that Qui Gon uncovers in a holorcron before dieing. He actually does reappear as a ghost to teach yoda and obi-wan this secret, but never in the movies. After awhile, the 'ghost' is pulled back into the living force (where everyone goes when they die). this technique Qui gon had only allows them to stay around for a little while. In the cannons, Anakins last appearance was to Leia, to try and make peace with here. Ben's was to Luke, telling him to go to Bakura (i believe thats it). After that, he explains he wont be able to come again, because its time to move on (he doesnt actually say that, i just can't remember the exact phrasing.

Im not sure if preparing for death really has anything to do with it though. But training for it in life (personally, i think thatd be kinda hard...) supposedly has an effect on how effective you are at coming back.

7. (dunno if this has been commented already): Because of the ability for droids to easily record information, The cantina was the one place on Tatooine not under Imperial Control, meaning that the owners knew there would be a lot of business, both legit and not, taken care of here. A droid is literally a living wire.

Hey Brandon - pretty sure no one's offered that explanation, and it's probably the most plausible one yet ("Wuther is racist against droids" just doesn't have the same punch). What's your source? Citation needed...

@22 He Has All Fake Limbs, so he should be fast. His arms, legs, stomach, lungs, spleen, intestines, and heart were removed and replaced with machines. That is how he does not need to eat or drink. He supposedly has nuclear power in the biosuit, and it is what keeps him alive. So, he is left with eyes, brain, and ribs. ouch

@30 He Couldn't Bring Them Back, Just Protect them. i think it was all like summoning them

29. Why can Leia remember Padmé?Leia is Force sensitive, and while it’s a bit of a fudge, its fair to say that that enables her to remember feelings, images, from the few brief moments between her birth and Padmé’s death.

The truth behind this is that Lucas felt it important that Luke and Leia’s mother be referenced, but having not fleshed the character out fully in his notes, he wrote a line that doesn’t fully mesh with that character’s story, as he eventually told it.

Padmé though, needed to die in Revenge of the Sith. Her fate couldn’t be resigned to the space between films. Now that would be poor storytelling. It’s unfortunate, but considering how these films were made, fairly astonishing that it didn’t happen more frequently.

30. Why does Anakin know how to come back from the dead?The ability to retain your consciousness upon death comes from your willingness to let go of your physical self and join with the Force. It helps if your death comes through an act of compassionate self sacrifice, as Anakin’s did, but it’s not necessary. Though in Anakin’s case it might have been. However, Anakin would not have been capable of generating a physical form, perhaps being only capable of returning as a disembodied voice (as Qui-Gon did in Clones, or Obi-Wan did near the end of Hope) had it not been for the help given him on the other side, by Obi-Wan and Yoda. This though, is just a detail, one that becomes clearer once its understood that Star Wars’ ultimate message is one of love, passivism, and community.

As an aside to those that think that the Prequel Trilogy caused the problem of the Force ghosts, I’d ask this: How exactly was the Jedi order to have been wiped out, as stated in the Original Trilogy, long before Episode’s I, II and III were scripted, if the JedI themselves were all capable of retaining consciousness following death.

In Episode’s IV, V and VI the question gets buried, but the minute you go back to show that order being destroyed you’re bound to address the issue. The need to show that the spirit form is not something that the Jedi were always capable of while also allowing the effect, and the Force, to retain it’s mystery is why I believe Lucas leaves some ambiguity surrounding the process. But, as I’ve said, once the greater themes are understood, and the character motivations grasped, the Force ghost issue becomes quite clear. Though it won’t be understood on a first viewing.

Jake - Never heard that thing about chemical injections for the Carbonite freezing process! Makes sense...but I still like to think Vader knows that hurting Luke's loved ones will give him little Force pings, because that's how it worked when his mom was in trouble.

I'm gonna say because he finally destroyed the Sith and fulfilled the prophecy and somewhat reached his "zen" Jedi state which brought him to a higher power and he was able to because of his enlightened state.

i didnt read all the comments so im not sure if anyone brought this up, but in the answer to the question about how Boba Fett saw Han escape in the trash is quite simple.

In the second movie (i think it was the second) Obi Wan uses that same trick against Jango Fett and it works. Since Boba is a clone, and has all jangos skills as a boy, as an adult hed be even more experienced and would remember to check for this trick. He knew the falcon was close, and that it didnt use its hyperdrive to get away (i think the commaders on the ship mention how they do not see any hyperdrive trace on the radar or somehting). It was probably just simple deduction on Fett's part,knowing that the trick exists, and was just exhausting the option just in case, and it just so happened he was correct. Also if you watch closely, Boba Fett is also floating with the trash, its not like he saw solo leaving by chance, he was doing the same thing solo was doing to more effectivley check the trash and see if solo was doing the old trick

Also for the droid memory thing, at the end of episode 3 both R2 and C3PO have their memories wiped of any compromising info, and just leave them being programmed to serve under the organa family, wich would explain why they are wiht Leia on the Tantive in the beggining of episode 4

So I have a comment about the last one.So did they really feel the need to change the spirit from the old Vader to the young one? Cuz personally I couldnt stand him anyway so that kinda pissed me off, and yoda and obi wan's spirit looked the way they did when thay died so that totaly messes everything up!

the "clambake" comment is great and I'm going to incorporate that into my SW vocab.

and i doubt George Lucas was making a racism allegory...he just doesn't seem like that kind of guy

and SW does work best not considering episodes 1, 2, and 3

I've always wanted to find some kid/person (or raise me own) who knows NOTHING of star wars and see what their reaction is to finding out that Vader is Luke's father...I feel like I always knew from hearing ppl say "Luke...I am your father" and it was never a surprise!